3
~Elara's POV
Aunty Stella, my mom's younger sister, grabbed me by the arm and yanked me up from the floor. "What is wrong with you?!" she screamed. "Have you lost your mind completely?!"
I tried to talk, but my voice cracked. "I… I just wanted it to stop… please…."
Before I could finish, her hand hit my face, hard. The slap stung so bad that I stumbled backward and hit the wall.
Three slaps in a day!
"Shut up!" she shouted. "You dare try to take your life before you've even paid for your sins?"
I blinked, confused and in pain. "Sins?" I whispered. "What sins?"
Her face twisted, full of hate. "Don't you dare pretend, Elara! You killed your mother!"
That had always been her line since I was young.
My heart dropped. "I didn't…"
"Don't you lie to me!" she snapped, pointing at me with shaking hands. "You think hanging yourself will wash your guilt away? Never! You'll live and suffer for it. Do you hear me? You'll suffer until the moon goddess herself says it's enough!"
Tears spilled down my face.
"I didn't…"
Her hand flew again, landing on my other cheek. "Don't you dare give excuse! You took her from me, and now you want to run from your punishment? Coward!"
I pressed a hand to my face, crying harder. My chest felt like it was caving in. "Please… I can't do this anymore…"
She hissed loudly, her eyes filled with disgust. "You don't get to decide what you can or can't do! You will get up tomorrow, wear the clothes they tell you to wear, and marry that man they chose for you. That's how you'll start paying for what you did."
I froze. "You can't mean that…"
"Oh, I do," she snapped. "The makeup artist and your clothes will arrive very early tomorrow morning. I'll tell them to wake you up before sunrise."
My throat tightened. "I don't even know him…."
"Enough!" she shouted. "You'll do as you're told! If you ever, ever try something like this again, Elara…" She stepped closer until her face was right in front of mine, her voice low and sharp like a knife. "I will kill you myself. For real this time."
My whole body shook. She looked at me like I was dirt.
She glared for a long moment before turning toward the door. "Pathetic girl," she muttered under her breath.
Then she walked out, slamming the door behind her.
The sound echoed in the room, leaving me in thick silence. I fell to the floor again, curling into myself. The rope above me still swung slowly, and just looking at it made me feel sick.
I started crying again, loud, painful sobs that came from deep inside my chest. I didn't care who heard.
"Why?" I cried out, my voice echoing in the room. "Why do you all hate me this much? What did I ever do to deserve this?"
I hit my fists against the floor, over and over until they hurt.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours. I couldn't tell. My tears had soaked the floor. My head hurt. My body ached. I just sat there, shaking.
When I finally got tired of crying, I looked toward the table and saw my phone. My only connection to someone who ever truly cared, Janae.
Janae was the only friend I had. The only person who ever saw me for me.
With trembling fingers, I picked up the phone and dialed her number. My hands shook so much that I almost dropped it.
The call barely rang twice before she picked up.
"Elara?" Her voice was soft, worried. "Hey, are you okay? You never call this late."
The moment I heard her voice, I broke down again. "Janae…"
"Elara, what's wrong?" she asked quickly. "You're scaring me."
I tried to speak, but the sobs came out too fast. "I… I can't do this anymore."
"What happened? Talk to me," she said, her voice gentle but firm.
"Lina?" Her voice was soft, worried. "You sound terrible. What happened?"
That was it. I broke. The words poured out between sobs. "She stole it, Janae. She….Lira took my project. She presented it like it were hers. They all believed her."
"Oh my God," Janae breathed. "Are you serious? Elara…"
"And Ronan," I choked out. "I went to find him after the meeting. I thought…he'd believe me and make me feel better. But he was with her. Kissing her. Right there. And he said….he said I was stupid for believing that he would love someone like me."
"What a bloody jerk!…" Her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that, Elara. I don't even know what to say."
"I feel like I don't exist," I whispered. "Like I'm just this… spare part they use when Lira doesn't want something."
There was silence on the other end for a moment. Then Janae said softly, "You're not disposable, Elara. You hear me? You deserve more than the scraps they throw at you."
Her words made my throat tighten. "Then why doesn't anyone see that?"
"They will," she said firmly. "But not if you let them keep breaking you."
"I don't have a choice," I whispered. "They just told me I'm getting married."
"What?" Janae gasped. "To whom?"
"I don't know," I said bitterly. "They won't tell me. Just that he's older and Lira was too 'good' for him. So they picked me instead."
"That's insane!" Janae snapped. "You can't let them do that!"
"What can I do?" I said quietly. "I'm nothing but a maid. I don't even have my project anymore. Or my boyfriend. Or… myself."
There was a long silence. I could hear Janae's breathing. Then she said, "You still have you, Elara. Don't let them take that too."
I stayed quiet for a long moment, trying to steady my breath. "Janae?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to be me anymore," I whispered.
"Don't say that."
"It's true," I said, my voice shaking. "Every time I try, I lose. Every time I love, it's used against me. I don't even know who I am without them telling me what I can't be."
Janae was crying now, too. "Then promise me you'll at least be fine till tomorrow. I will come over to your place to check on you."
I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "I'll try, but I can't promise..."
We stayed on the phone for a while. She told me to breathe, to drink water, to rest. When I finally hung up, the silence in my room felt louder than before.
I clutched my phone tighter, holding it against my chest like it could stop my heart from breaking apart. Janae's voice still lingered in my head, soft and full of concern, but it did nothing to ease the dread twisting in my stomach.
The silence in my room felt deafening. Reality hit me hard. Tomorrow, I'd wake up trapped in an engagement I never agreed to. And worse, I had no idea who the groom even was.
A sharp sob escaped before I could stop it. I pressed my palms to my face, but the tears came anyway, hot, helpless, endless. My chest ached.
"This is just so unfair!" I screamed, the words tearing from my throat before I could stop them. My hands shook as I grabbed the flower vase from the table and hurled it at the wall.
Why me? Why me?
I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm the wild rhythm of my heartbeat. But nothing helped. The anger burned hotter, mixing with the fear, the betrayal, the helplessness. I wanted to scream until the walls cracked, until someone finally listened.
Tears blurred my vision as I whispered, "I didn't ask for this… I didn't ask for any of this.